


High Horses

by spicywaffles



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-03-01 16:28:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13298748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spicywaffles/pseuds/spicywaffles
Summary: Nayeon, princess of the Yeon Dynasty, was unexpectedly chosen to replace her injured sister in the Annual Horseback Riding Tourney, representing the Royal Family against dozens of great Mongolian princesses, including the charming princess of the Josotu League, Sana, who had practically grown up on horseback.Unfortunately, Nayeon did not know how to ride.





	High Horses

The stiff oak-pressed parchment shook in Nayeon’s trembling hands and slowly creased along little crescents where she had sunk her perfectly filed nails. She did not speak for a few minutes as she read and re-read the same dreadful words. 

When her sister, The Gulun Princess, Jeongyeon, had tripped and twisted her ankle during one of her morning jogs around the Palace grounds, the Royal Family had come abuzz with worried talks of which Royal princess would be chosen to replace the most senior princess in representing the Yeon Dynasty at the Annual Horseback Riding Tourney. That Royal Edict in Nayeon’s hands now announced the emperor’s baffling decision - The Heshuo Princess, Nayeon.

Jeongyeon, borne to the High Empress, Princess of the First Rank (Gulun), had been trained from a young age in the Four Arts of the Scholar and the Three Techniques of the Warrior. Champion of all three Tourneys she had competed in thus far, her repeated victories not only proved her capabilities but also underlined the enduring supremacy of the Yeon Dynasty over the Mongolian clans. Those who had witnessed Jeongyeon’s riding often commented that the horse seemed to become an extension of her body, the animal responding to her touch even before than her vocal commands had fully left her tongue.

On the other hand, Nayeon, borne to the Imperial Consort, Princess of the Second Rank (Heshuo), did not know how to ride a horse. 

“I can’t do it.”

“Yes you can,” said Jeongyeon.

“I literally cannot. What the fuck is Father thinking?”

“He wants you to try something of higher stakes, establish a reputation.”

“Yeah but the closest thing I’ve ridden to a horse is-”

“That senior from Year 4?” Jeongyeon teased.

“... the little wooden rocking horse when we were little,” Nayeon had been so shaken by the news that the usual sharp-tongued girl managed no comeback and merely scowled at her royal sister. Without much coherence, she rambled on, “She did look a little like a horse... but who’s gonna teach me how to ride... and I threw away that harness Father gave me... and you have to teach me fuck but you’re hurt-” 

“Hey hey calm down. There’s still two weeks to the Tourney. Of course Father’s going to arrange for some last minute lessons, you just do your best not to get hurt, it’ll be fine. Everyone knows you’re a replacement so they’re not going to expect the best, you just have to… you know, not be too far below my standards.”

“Which isn’t fucking possible?!”

“Alright. You don’t have a choice. Father likes you but he’s not going to revoke a Royal Edict for you. Now let’s go get you a harness,” Jeongyeon reached for one of her clutches and pushed herself off the bench as her shaken sister helped her with the other while bitterly muttering, “Why did you have to go fooling around those fucking bushes you idiot…”

In the next week and a half, Nayeon, who usually spent her days lazing around munching on sesame fritters and secretly reading unscrupulous adult scrolls despite the disapproving eyes of her royal tutors, was forced to attend long hours of riding lessons. On the first day of training, the royal coach, carrying with him that overwhelming optimism of old men with nothing fulfilling left to do in life, had given Nayeon endless motivational speeches about winning the Tourney and becoming the next shining jewel of the Yeon Dynasty. By the last day of training before the Royal Entourage set off for the Eastern Plains, his long-winded and extravagant speeches had dwindled down to: “Just keep your legs to the sides and stay on the horse.”

Sore all over her body with abrasions lining her inner thighs, Nayeon was decked out in comfortable yet splendid travelling clothes, silken and lined with threads of gold, put into a carriage with her maid and carted off to the great unknown with the rest of the royal representatives. A two-day journey, Nayeon nonetheless enjoyed the sight of endless greens, occasional wild animals that came along, and the taste of sweet dew in the fresh air. This was a freedom that her royal sisters and her hardly got to enjoy. In their world, they could not walk more than fifty metres before coming into view of a fortified brick wall.

As they slowly approached the Eastern Plains, her maid began to refresh her memory on all the formalities and traditional practices of diplomatic meetings with foreign royalties. “Miss, you do remember that it is customary for educated children of royal families to greet one another with improvised lines of poetry as a display of their literary pursuits?”

“What?”

“Did you prepare any lines, Miss?”

“No... I didn’t know I had to? Do you have lines?”

“I can’t read, Miss.”

“Well shit. Should I go ask an eunuch?”

“Then word would spread, it would be embarrassing for your mother. And you should really refrain from swearing Miss.”

“Then what should I do?”

“I don’t know Miss. But surely, Miss, you can come up with something, you have been studying some things, right?”

The rest of the journey continued in nervous silence and Nayeon could no longer enjoy the scenic ride. She was so annoyed by these meaningless worries that she felt as though she about to tear off the expensive silk on her body and run off with the herds of wild cows.

The Eastern Plains were a series of plateaus that ran up the gradual slopes of the Mountain of Grapes, belonging to the Josotu League of Inner Mongolia, who hosted that year’s Tourney. Numerous majestic and gigantic tents had been set up across the plains, belonging to the various royal entourages, little subsidiary tents littered around the gigantic awesome ones, housing their servants and advisors. On the highest plateau, the greatest tent stood with its pristine white felt reflecting the blinding sunlight and gently rippling in the wind - the Grand Yurt. 

Within a half hour of arrival, with barely time to wash up and rest, Nayeon was ushered towards the Grand Yurt to meet the princesses who had already arrived. Inside the tent, a large golden chair sat at the top of a podium in front, reserved for the Khan of Josotu and currently empty, while a dozen or so Mongolian princesses sat on embroidered padded mats around the empty space in the middle. Some gloriously tanned while some fair as day, they were decked out in fitted deel dress-suits that emphasised their toned yet muscular physique, their thick dark hair weaved in impressive braids and topped by immaculate headpieces. On the mat closest to the Khan’s throne, a sharp-nosed young girl turned to see Nayeon enter through the Yurt flaps. She sat tall and her perfectly round eyes had a subtle yet intimidating glare. 

Her training thankfully kicking in, Nayeon remembered not to stare at the beautiful princess for longer than two seconds as she took a tentative step into the centre of attention and bent into a slight curtsy.

“Greetings, I am the Heshuo Princess of Yeon Dynasty, Nayeon.”

The sharp-nosed princess got up from her mat in one graceful motion, her shining scarlet deel shimmering down her bodice. Cleary the representative of the Mongolian princesses, she returned Nayeon’s curtsy with a deeper one and spoke, “Greetings, our sister from Yeon. I am Minatozaki Sana, princess of the Josotu. We princesses from the plains of the wild welcome you to our hearth,

_For in the winds of change and the rains of history,  
Through the soils of time twine the roots of great trees.” ___

__Nayeon blinked. Internally scrambling through the extremely limited storage of literature that she had encountered in her life, she apprehensively attempted: “um…_ _

___And among lotuses, sticky leaves spread,  
From which threads of love drip red.”_ _ _

____There was silence in the tent except the soft drumming of wind against the tent while the princesses stared at Nayeon, confused and wondering how they should respond. Sana blinked a few times, gathering her thoughts before asking, “Princess Nayeon, if I may ask, does that refer to what we young women all understand it to mean?”_ _ _ _

____Nayeon squared her face into one of mock amusement. “Is the beauty of literature not that the poet never has to explain?” She had learnt, in all her years of being in a position unbefitting of her character, that in the learned world of scholarly horse shit, literature was either thoroughly comical or earthshakingly impressive. She just has to pretend the former is the latter._ _ _ _

____Sana gave an almost inaudible chuckle as she spoke again, “Well, what do I know about what the Royal Dynasty teaches their scholars? If erotica is their new literary heritage, then we must study it well.” Sana’s smile did not reveal the sneer hidden in her words but a giggle rippled around the tent amongst the girls. Nayeon widened her smile and nodded squarely. Her philosophy in life had always been: being laughed at may be inevitable (given that she was Nayeon), but never be laughed down. Sana waved Nayeon to a mat on the other side of the Khan’s throne across from her own mat. It was customary to place the Yeon Dynasty’s princess in the second highest position._ _ _ _

____The rest of the day passed with minimal hiccups and boring small talk. Nayeon did her part exchanging niceties and fake smiles while doing her best to stare less obviously at Sana. Despite the unmistakable arrogance of the princess, her demeanour and appearance was stunning from every angle and subtlety proved to be a difficult feat as their mats were both positioned to face outwards at the rest of the tent. Many times, those dark round eyes had swivelled over quickly enough to meet Nayeon’s for a split second before Nayeon could look back down at her cup of grape tea._ _ _ _

____The rational part of Nayeon however had the sense to concentrate on her rising fear at the prospect of having to race these athletic Mongolian princesses on horseback in only two days. It was a common saying that Mongolians had horse blood in them tracing up their ancestry. Her sanity was slowly whittling away as she waited impatiently for nightfall when she could go off to the back plains to practice on her horse in secret._ _ _ _

____After having an impressive dinner of Mongolian _buuz _and _khorkhog _, the princesses were finally free to return to their respective tents to rest ahead of the next day of rehearsals and training before the Tourney on the day after. Nayeon returned quickly, changed into her riding gear, picked up her palamino horse, Kook, and set off for the grass patch behind a row of trees that lined the back of the tentage._____ _ _ _

________Finally alone in the quiet, she breathed in the cold night air and looked into Kook’s shining ember eyes reflecting the stars. “Please… please just cooperate with me alright. If I mess up, Father will kill me, then all these Mongolian wildlings will kill us eventually, not even joking. Alright, come on beautiful.” Nayeon ran her fingers through Kook’s flowing white mane, then wrapped her right hand around the rein, put her right foot into the stirrup and pulled herself onto the horse._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________As she was just about to swing her left leg over the saddle, a clear sharp sound of someone clearing their throat rang out from behind her among the trees. Nayeon jumped in shock mid-mount, a guttural shriek escaping her. Her body fell flat onto the back of her house as she gripped the reins desperately to maintain balance. Kook neighed softly in protest and trotted back and forth before regaining his calm, thankfully tame enough to keep his rider on his back._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Regaining her composure, Nayeon sat properly onto the saddle and turned angrily at the source of the disturbance. From the shadows, Sana’s slender frame emerged from the darkness and her dark eyes twinkled in the starlight. “You don’t even know how to ride, do you?” The mockery in her voice was no longer concealed this time._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Flustered by the exposure and still ticked off by the interruption, Nayeon could not be bothered by manners and snapped back, “Can’t quite see how this is your business, why don’t you keep your huge nose out of it?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Sana continued unperturbed, “You pulled yourself up by the reins, that pulls at the horse’s neck, it doesn’t feel good for them. You should rest your weight on the stirrup, the saddle spreads the pressure across the back of the horse. First step to winning a race is not injuring your horse.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Wow thanks for the advice. Really needed that.” The part of Nayeon’s brain that was acknowledging the logic in Sana’s tip compromised the intended sarcasm of her words, which further irritated her. She averted Sana’s gaze and tried to ignore how beautiful the princess looked, bathed in moonlight in her shimmering dress._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Your sister was really good, better than me even. The stunts she could do, flipping back and forth with one arm, no pain to the horse at all. I hope you understand, it is very surprising to see that you don’t even know how to ride.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“You can save the gloating for the day of the Tourney, shouldn’t you be in your tent now?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Shouldn’t you too?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Nayeon ignored her, raised her arm and was about to urge her horse into a gallop when Sana stepped forward quickly and placed her hand on Kook’s flank. The animal instantly came back to a stop, paying no attention to the slight squeeze from Nayeon’s two feet. From her side, Sana’s soft voice spoke again, gentler this time, “I can teach you if you want. Back in those Chinese palaces they’re not allowed to touch you princesses right. No way you could learn that way. Our fathers taught us with their arms around us when we were kids.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Nayeon hesitated for a second, which was all the time needed for Sana to hook her foot onto the stirrup and push herself onto the horse with a little hop. Kook barely protested at the added weight._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Sana reached for the reins, her slender fingers wrapped around Nayeon’s cold tense hands. With a slight pressure from her feet, Kook took off to a gentle trot. Sana shook Nayeon’s hands slightly as she said softly by Nayeon’s ear, “You need to relax your hold, the horse can feel your fear, she would be afraid too.” Her breath, smelling faintly of grapes and mulan flowers, tickled at the side of Nayeon’s neck and sent goosebumps running down the small of her back._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Sana traced her arm back to Nayeon’s waist and squeezed it gently, “Relax your body and feel the rocking of the horse, feel where the muscles tighten and where they relax, when you get into the rhythm you can’t fall.” As Kook picked up speed, the wind roaring in her ears, along with the fact that _the _Minatozaki Sana was holding her on a fucking horse, gripped Nayeon in speechless terror. Her body remained stiff and motionless on the now galloping horse.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Sana sighed and tried again, “Look at the stars, look at how beautiful this is and just _feel _. How many times will you ever get to experience this, my royal princess?” Sana gave the horse a light whip on his dock and he surged forth, her thrilled laughter ringing out crisp and bright against the roar of the wind. Nayeon finally gathered the courage to look up into the shining darkness. “Just lean against me and relax, it would feel almost like flying!”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Entranced by the cloudless universe, she finally gave in and let her body pitch loosely along with the rocking of the horse. She could feel Sana’s racing heartbeat against a single spot on her back and the gentle pressure of her sharp chin against her right shoulder. As Sana spoke again, her sweet breath brushed against a loosely tucked strang of hair behind Nayeon's ear, “No fear at all, is there? When you stop caring about Mongolian wildlings killing your countrymen? Just freedom.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“Just freedom,” Nayeon spoke after a pause, in agreement, for the first time that day. She turned and her lips came an inch from Sana’s flushed cheek. Her dark eyes no longer had that intimidating menace. They twinkled brightly against the shadows of her long lashes and Nayeon wondered if the menace had all been but her own imagination. For right now, all she saw was beauty as she had never experienced before._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


End file.
